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Groundbreaking spaceplane crashes before landmark aerospike rocket test
https://newatlas.com/ ^ | May 09, 2024 | Joe Salas

Posted on 05/10/2024 4:53:08 AM PDT by Jonty30

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Groundbreaking indeed. Good job editor.
1 posted on 05/10/2024 4:53:08 AM PDT by Jonty30
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To: Jonty30

Maybe Editor should have said “Earth-shattering?”


2 posted on 05/10/2024 4:58:48 AM PDT by Yo-Yo (Is the /Sarc tag really necessary? Pray for President Biden: Psalm 109:8)
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To: Jonty30

Photo looks like some Nazi scientist design was bushed off and used.

Straight out of Captain America cartoon
.


3 posted on 05/10/2024 5:04:58 AM PDT by MeanWestTexan (Sometimes There Is No Lesser Of Two Evils)
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To: Jonty30

Fiberglass airframe? I’m no aviation expert, but it sounds like it was too light…


4 posted on 05/10/2024 5:05:38 AM PDT by telescope115 (I NEED MY SPACE!!! 🔭)
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To: Jonty30

Looks very 1950’s. Hopefully they gathered enough data to go back to the drawing board.


5 posted on 05/10/2024 5:10:38 AM PDT by BBQToadRibs2
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To: telescope115

Probably, but I think it’s meant to be a proof-of-concept. If they can get it to work in principle, then they can invest more in a proper model.


6 posted on 05/10/2024 5:11:49 AM PDT by Jonty30 (He hunted a mammoth for me, just because I said I was hungry. He is such a good friend. )
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To: Jonty30

What part of the ground was broken?


7 posted on 05/10/2024 5:18:12 AM PDT by ComputerGuy (Heavily-medicated for your protection)
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To: Jonty30; 04-Bravo; 1FASTGLOCK45; 1stFreedom; 2ndDivisionVet; 2sheds; 60Gunner; 6AL-4V; ...

Aviation Ping!.....................


8 posted on 05/10/2024 5:20:19 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: telescope115

Well, at least it wasn’t Carbon Fiber.................


9 posted on 05/10/2024 5:20:51 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: Yo-Yo

10 posted on 05/10/2024 5:21:49 AM PDT by dfwgator (Endut! Hoch Hech!)
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To: ComputerGuy

The runway.................


11 posted on 05/10/2024 5:22:59 AM PDT by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while illegals are put up in 5 Star hotels....................)
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To: Jonty30
The usual load of goofy comments! It is a very promising concept - a more efficient, and potentially more valuable spacecraft than the Shuttle.

It was a test model; they break. Sometimes those "failures" make the next version even better because you learn from those events.

The design is an efficient-looking lifting body and what all of you miss, this is a small firm that is making progress in a new and exciting direction. A future spacecraft that takes off from the ground and can fly directly into orbit without boosters, separate stages, and more heavy and expensive parts.

And for the goof that said "it looks too light" - yes, you don't know anything at all about aircraft design.

12 posted on 05/10/2024 5:27:14 AM PDT by Chainmail (You can vote your way into Socialism - but you will have to shoot your way out.)
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To: MeanWestTexan

13 posted on 05/10/2024 5:27:42 AM PDT by texas booster (Join FreeRepublic's Folding@Home team (Team # 36120) Cure Alzheimer's!)
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To: Jonty30

Yup. We’ll see how the later models fare. Hope they are successful!


14 posted on 05/10/2024 5:29:39 AM PDT by telescope115 (I NEED MY SPACE!!! 🔭)
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To: texas booster
The MIRA I prototype, shown in what's presumably a screenshot taken from video moments before its unscheduled disassembly


15 posted on 05/10/2024 5:30:54 AM PDT by texas booster (Join FreeRepublic's Folding@Home team (Team # 36120) Cure Alzheimer's!)
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To: texas booster

16 posted on 05/10/2024 5:32:33 AM PDT by texas booster (Join FreeRepublic's Folding@Home team (Team # 36120) Cure Alzheimer's!)
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To: MeanWestTexan

(Photo looks like some Nazi scientist design was bushed off and used.)

Look at the engineering team in the photo. Nazis would be insulted with that comment. Too much diversity in that picture. Probably why it crashed.


17 posted on 05/10/2024 5:34:33 AM PDT by Macho MAGA Man (The last two weren't balloons. One was a cylindrical objects Trump is being given the Alex Jones tr)
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To: texas booster

Exactly. Needs Red Skull at the controls laughing maniacally.


18 posted on 05/10/2024 5:38:40 AM PDT by MeanWestTexan (Sometimes There Is No Lesser Of Two Evils)
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To: Jonty30
. . . it’s meant to be a proof-of-concept.

Yes. I'm sure all they want to do is get high and fast enough to show that they can make the aerospike work, and get some data on performance.

Getting to orbit is all about speed. You can get high with low speeds (which, for orbiting spacecraft, can be something around Mach 2). Orbit requires about Mach 20. So the real issue is getting high enough to reduce drag, then go fast. Back when we had the Space Shuttle, if you watch the films you see that they got to Mach 1 at less than one minute into the (almost) nine minute main burn.

Most of that main burn was spent high enough that the bells on the engines were very efficient. Picking up a little efficience (with the aerospike) at Mach 3-4, and losing it from Mach 4 to Mach 20 doesn't sound like a very good optimization.

But I'm all for letting them try, particularly since NASA is not involved. The NASA of nowadays (all DEI and government bureaucrats) has ruined anything manned for the last 30 years.
19 posted on 05/10/2024 5:39:11 AM PDT by Phlyer
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To: Phlyer

The Show Enterprise, I believe, had this in their intro. A plane that hits high orbits and costs around the earth before coming to a landing wherever it destined.


20 posted on 05/10/2024 5:43:07 AM PDT by Jonty30 (He hunted a mammoth for me, just because I said I was hungry. He is such a good friend. )
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